Saturday 5 October 2024

Guest Blog 101

The Privatisation of Probation Failure

The Probation Service has the lowest media profile of any of the public facing Government Services. The only time it makes the headlines is when something has gone seriously wrong, normally resulting in a death, with the blame directed at Probation. So it was a real surprise to see Ian Dunt devoting his whole Introduction in his bestselling book, “How Westminster Works”, to the subject of Probation’s failed attempt at privatisation.

Unusually for a Journalist Writer working outside an organisation he manages to communicate exactly the many issues surrounding the failure of this project. He must have interviewed the exact right people from the front line within Probation to write such a truthful and excellent insight into the real issues. It was so good I have scanned the Introduction and subject to Copyright being acknowledged I have linked to it below for you to read. This is provided upon a “Book Sample” basis to encourage you to buy the book.

It should be mandatory reading for anyone within Probation, past or present, to fully appreciate how a Government can so quickly destroy a 100 year old service that worked. Yes we were all aware it needed improvements particularly in the high level management organisation structure, for example the removal of multiple Trusts, and the National Standardisation of Business and Computer Systems, but not wholesale destruction from which it is unlikely to ever fully recover. Since this is now unlikely to ever happen in the right way due to it existing within the HMPPS.

Probation is fundamentally a Court Service servicing the needs of HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). Historically it evolved that way for very good reasons that are just as applicable today as they were in the Probation of Offenders Act 1907. Yes. Prisons and Probation needed to work more closely together as defined by the Carter Report 2003 achieving more comprehensive “end to end” pathways. But implanting Probation into the Prison Service creating the HMPPS went organisationally in the wrong direction. If it had to be implanted anywhere it would have been more logical to implant it into HMCTS which is the source of most of its work.

The real danger is as the old original Probation Officers are now retiring and dying so the original culture of true Probation is being lost. This happened in the HM Prisons when the push towards Prison Privatisation was running full pace. All the old school Prison Officers were made redundant. The new “private” workforce didn’t pick up on the culture that always existed between the Prison Officer and Prisoner. So Prison unrest and even riots increased. The only way things could be recovered was by bringing back into play teams of “old school” Prison Officers. This is happening to the Probation Profession. Processes, systems, procedures, documentation and now AI will never work effectively in the social services unless you establish the right culture.

So what do we mean by culture. It encompasses the shared beliefs, values, norms, behaviours, customs and knowledge that characterise a group of people. Those within an organisation like Probation transfer this culture to those that join the organisation and work hard to uphold all these innate principles. Call it “Best Practice” or “What Works” but they only define the most effective methods and strategies for achieving the desired outcomes. It is how people uphold these principles and the culture that under pins them that really matters. Take the time to read this article by Ian Dunt since he really got it spot on and then buy his book.

24 comments:

  1. “The real danger is as the old original Probation Officers are now retiring and dying so the original culture of true Probation is being lost.”

    We’re not all dead yet mate!

    We do pass on probation culture, best practice and what really works.

    To say “The new “private” workforce didn’t pick up on the culture” is nonsense and if that’s a dig at CRCs then the NPS was at least 50% awful too. I know many new staff that really get it, their work is amazing, they just need lower caseloads and more time in the day.

    You’re right that the organisation has twisted probation culture and best practice into something else. I don’t need to read Dunt’s diary to tell me that.

    What we need to remind ourselves of is what probation work really is and get those that are good at it leading on what probation needs to be.

    / Probation Officer

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  2. A reminder …

    Guest Blog 26
    Advise, Assist and Befriend.

    http://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/guest-blog-26.html?m=1

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  3. The privatisation of probation was without doubt a complete disaster.
    However, I would argue that probation was already in decline prior to privatisation.
    For me it was the 2003 criminal justice act and the implementation of automatic release at the halfway mark in 2005 that had a fundamental impact on probations identity and ethos and set it on the wrong path.
    Overnight the service became an extention of the original sentence and the focus became about supervision until sentence completion rather then being about new beginings and a "one size fits all" approach was introduced.
    Probation was already on the wrong path a long time before privatisation.

    A recent letter from the probation institute.

    https://www.probation-institute.org/news/challenging-the-exponential-growth-of-the-prison-population

    'Getafix

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    1. The Prison System has been in crisis for the past two decades. The prison population increased following the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 leading to an exponential rise of the indeterminate sentence prisoner population, the passing of longer determinate sentences. Further legislation in 2014 increased the numbers of people released on licence and subject to recall. At the same time the Probation Service suffered a drain of experienced and confident staff when it was part privatised. A huge amount of money has been wasted in attempts to restructure the Probation Service; it is now the poor relation in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service where the Prison Service inevitably receives the lion’s share of available resources.

      The Probation Service is the one element of the Criminal Justice System which has a role with individuals from pre-sentence to post-sentence. The Guardian article published on 14 September 2024 (Crisis point- Why our jails in England are so full- and who is in them?) gave an outline of the reasons for the current situation. Missing from this piece was an analysis of the impact of Probation policy and guidance on the prison population, and the impact of the rise in prison numbers on the work of community probation practitioners. Depressingly, it took the Prison Reform Trust and Transform Justice interviewees to raise the relevant issues of risk averse practice within Probation, and the impact of mainly negative publicity around the Service which has centred on failures in practice.

      What was equally galling was the Guardian coverage on 11th September given to the Police Service concerning what they considered would overload their policing capacity. The most important service that day was the Probation Service and its ability to manage the increased workload, having already struggled to complete the appropriate assessment and planning for the release of these individuals on a single day and earlier than expected.

      Released prisoners on that day appeared to understand that there was little chance of accommodation, health care or other community resources being readily available or sustainable. The plans for the early release of prisoners, mooted by the previous Government, were augmented by the current Government. The Probation Institute, Probation practitioners, the Chief Inspector of Probation and numerous charitable and community organisations urged caution. Two thousand releases on one day would be very difficult for a depleted service and less experienced staff already over stretched in communities whose resources were equally depleted.

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    2. There is a growing consensus that a review of sentencing is required and that too many people are sentenced to prison. There are other sentences in the community which can serve the important purposes of sentencing, whether that is punishment, protection of the public, or rehabilitation, without imposing the damaging effects of prison. These alternatives require an effective, well trained and resourced, professional service which can respond creatively to the those on supervision, alongside equally well resourced partners in their local communities.

      The Probation Service works day in day out with individuals who have committed a range of offences. Most are extremely damaged by their often discriminatory life experiences . It is often difficult work but humanity, tolerance and a belief that people can change is fundamental to the task of empowering and engaging those whom the public would wish to be locked away.

      It would be useful if the press and other organs gave serious and consistent volume of attention and analysis to the state of the Probation Service and the community resources necessary for the delivery of an effective, protective and rehabilitative service, meeting the elements of both risk and need. Negative reporting, without any balancing argument, has led to risk averse, process driven, practice and a loss of professionalism, confidence and competence. Process driven assessment and algorithms have taken over from evidence based assessment and creative responses to those assessments.

      Serious, in depth analysis of the work of Probation might draw attention to how the £4 billion set aside for building new prisons to provide extra places for prisoners, could be better spent on the provision of probation and community services. These could tackle the vicious circle of poor education, expensive child care, mental and physical healthcare, accommodation and drug/alcohol services. Part of the £4 billion might well be spent on better prison provision to replace the old and crumbling prison estate. There is no inevitability to the continued rise in the prison population as long as attitudes towards imprisonment and sentencing change, and whatever resource is available is invested in our communities.

      Probation Institute 23rd September 2024

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    3. But let’s hear from the frontline probation officers not the academics!

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    4. So basically Labour f*cked probation, Conservatives dumped up (CRC's) before trying to get us back together with sweet words about being one big happy family again and now Labour want to look to our future without really talking to us (front line staff)....and to top it all off a rumour that Mr Blunkett the IPP man himself is being considered to review sentencing etc..

      It's an abusive relationship if ever I saw one

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    5. "It's an abusive relationship if ever I saw one"

      Pretty much on the nail.

      Since the late 90's Probation staff have been passed around & systematically abused by successive political & structural 'masters' - Home Office, NPSv.1, NOMS, MoJ, Trusts, NPSv.2, CRCs, hmpps, & the reconstituted PSv.3.

      Those prepared to collude with & enable the abuse (excellent leaders, visionaries) have been rewarded for their duty.

      Those who stood firm on principled ground (dinosaurs, resistant to change) have been punished for daring to expose the abuse.

      https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/lord-blunkett-prisons-review-can-learn-from-my-mistakes-sqzdcwdd5

      "The former home secretary is in talks with Labour to lead a review, despite his role in ‘sentence inflation’ that has been blamed for the overcrowding crisis"

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  4. What I find absolutely ridiculous is that SERCO now hold a huge contract for the EMS TAGGING yet got fined millions not long ago for the falsifying of documents …. How can they successfully win a bid to get this current contract. Shambolic. It just undermines the integrity of what public protection is meant to be about.

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    1. Hmmm, just how do they do it?

      https://www.cbi.org.uk/about-us/our-people/cbi-board/rupert-soames-obe/

      "Rupert Soames OBE is one of the UK’s most experienced public-company CEO’s, having served 11 years as CEO of Aggreko, followed by 9 years as CEO of Serco. He stepped back from full-time executive life in December 2022, and in September 2023 took up the Chair role at Smith & Nephew plc"

      Rupert is a grandson of Winston Churchill & brother of one-time tory grandee Nicholas Soames... they 'connected' in ways us 'umble plebs can only read about: "PRINCE CHARLES & PRINCESS DIANA. At the society wedding of Miss Camilla Dunne To The Honourable Rupert Soames, Hereford Cathedral,.England, October 8th 1988."

      Serco are also global leaders in the use of "risk analysis" tools; sound familiar?:

      "Nauroze Anees spent more than 1,000 days in a Serco-run immigration detention centre in Australia, but for most of that time, he had no idea he was the subject of a Security Risk Analysis Tool, or SRAT, that determined where he was accommodated and whether he was handcuffed outside the centre.

      The secretive SRAT attempts to calculate a detainee’s “risk” for violence, escape or self-harm. But lawyers, immigration insiders and government reports say the tool regularly rates people as high risk based on “unwarranted” escalations and inaccurate information – with devastating consequences."

      https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/13/morning-mail-sercos-secret-algorithm-abuse-claims-over-gaza-raid-greens-demand-on-offshore-gas

      There is NO such thing as 'integrity' in the illusion of "public protection", "risk management" or "risk assessment". Its just another name for making a deal, a business transaction, a means of moving vast sums of money. There are no feelings, there is no compassion for people. Its merely a process that is overseen by a privileged few who play musical chairs.

      Or what about G4S ceo Ashley Almanza?

      "In 1993, Almanza joined British Gas PLC (now demerged as BG Group and Centrica) as Finance Manager in their Exploration and Production division. After serving in a variety of role, including Group Finance Director of BG Group from August 2002, until he left on 31 March 2011. On 1 June 2013, he became CEO of G4S plc."

      Its a game we have no part to play in.

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  5. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c748we5g359o

    "Former cabinet secretary Lord O'Donnell has said the position of top civil servant is "massively underpaid".

    He is involved in the recruitment process for the £200,000-a-year role, following Simon Case's decision to step down on health grounds."

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  6. Whilst the belief in a person's ability to change is admirable, a lifetime working on the front line has taught me that many of the people that we work with have experienced negligence and poor parenting to such an extent that they lack fundamental skills acquired from birth to 7 years, hence the idea that they can change is somewhat naive. Trying to teach thinking skills to someone at the age at 20+ is like trying to build a house with no foundation... it just won't work.

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    1. It’s not just about thinking skills though is it.

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    2. I'm really curious annon@ 12:27 why anybody that didn't believe that change is possible would have anything to do with probation?
      If you're f**k** up at aged 7 then that's it?

      'Getafix

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    3. That’s me done then. I was a right terror at age 7 !!

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    4. Nonsense comment no one is the child they once were.

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    5. https://insidetime.org/newsround/only-1-in-15-prisoners-takes-a-risk-reducing-course/

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    6. Figures from the Ministry of Justice showed that in the year to March 2024, only 5,383 prisoners in England and Wales started an accredited offending behaviour programme (OBP).

      The annual total has risen for three years in a row, but is still below what it was in the last full pre-Covid year, 2019/20, when 5,726 prisoners started an OBP. During the pandemic, programmes were halted and the annual total for the number of starts slumped below 1,000 in 2021/22.

      Prisoners frequently complain, in letters to Inside Time, about the difficulties they face when trying to get a place on an OBP. For those serving life or Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, successfully completing an OBP is often essential in order to demonstrate to the Parole Board that they have reduced their risk level and can be released safely.

      However, there has been a long-term decline in the number of prisoners who take part in programmes. In 2010/11, more than 19,000 prisoners started courses. The annual number of starts fell by 70 per cent over the following decade, even before Covid struck. The Ministry of Justice has put the drop down to a shift in emphasis from short courses to longer, more complex programmes.

      A comment by Ministry of Justice statisticians, published alongside this year’s annual data, said: “The number of prisoners starting and completing accredited programmes increased for a third year running and participation has nearly reached pre-COVID levels.”

      However, there has been a long-term decline in the number of prisoners who take part in OBPs. In 2010/11, more than 19,000 prisoners started them. The annual number of starts fell by 70 per cent over the following decade, even before Covid struck. The Ministry of Justice has put the drop down to a shift in emphasis from short courses to longer, more complex programmes.

      The MoJ statisticians added: “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, volumes of starts and completions fell steadily between 2009/10 and 2020/21. This was mainly due to changes in accredited programme delivery in custody, driven by changes in programme ownership and reinvestment favouring longer, higher intensity programmes (including some one-to-one programmes) rather than shorter, moderate intensity programmes. The number of commissioned completions has therefore decreased despite maintaining investment.”

      The current range of courses, which tend to focus on particular types of offending such as violence or sexual offences, are to be replaced with more general courses known as Next Generation. During 2023/24, the figures show that 44 prisoners started a Next Generation programme and 14 completed one.

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    7. And the next Gen programmes will be run by lowly paid PSOs who are leaving in their droves. Programmes cannot run without staff to deliver them. Another fine mess by HMPPS

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  7. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/probation-professional-register-interim-policy-framework

    This policy introduces the Probation Professional Register and Probation Professional Registration Standards for staff with a probation officer qualification.

    This policy framework is mandatory for roles in Statutory Guidance where there is a requirement to have a probation officer qualification and those roles where there is an essential requirement to have a probation qualification in their job description.

    The Offender Management ACT 2007 gives authority for individuals to act as ‘officers of a provider of probation services’. The Probation Service must ensure that staff are authorised as ‘officers’ and that they have the requisite skills, learning and qualifications to undertake their role.

    staff will also be required to use the Registered Probation Officer designation and adhere to the Probation Professional Registration Standards, including the continuing professional development requirement."

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    1. One more thing to threaten us with.

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    2. As you will have guessed by now, hmpps will already have rewritten the job descriptions for excellent leaders so as to remove the requirement for any kind of probation qualification; we can't expect them to be subject to the rigours of CPD or any kind of professional standards (see annex a of the policy document for full details).

      Which of these categories have the 'excellent leaders' of the failing probation service met so far (hint: July 2024: "Probation chief warns 97% of service already failing"):

      * Support public protection and changing lives?

      * Act with honesty and professional integrity?

      * Promote and value each person as an individual?

      * Responsible and accountable for my quality of practice and decision making?

      * Establish and maintain professional relationships?

      * Maintain my continuing professional development?

      "NINETY SEVEN PER CENT ALREADY FAILING"

      And the hmpps bullies want to dump all responsibility for their incompetence & failure on the traumatised, burnt out & inexperienced frontline staff by imposing a professional register & associated standards with which to bind them & beat them.

      Its as if the existing SFO procedures weren't sufficient to allow those 'excellent leaders' to dump their shit on staff.

      Where is the outrage???

      According to the govt's own measuring stick, i.e. HMI Probation, 97% of a publicly funded probation service that costs £1.234 bn is FAILING & no-one seems to give a fuck.

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    3. £1.197billion thrown away each year on failure, with no change to the 'excellent leaders' who have taken probation down such an embarassing & shameful road of utter incompetence.

      Anyone recognise these figures from "Glassdoor"?

      https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/probation-officer-salary-SRCH_KO0,17.htm

      " The estimated salary for a Probation Officer is £111,148 per year. "

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    4. The privatisation of probation failure - on the nose!

      26 Jan 2023 | 128695

      Asked by: Ellie Reeves
      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much was spent on staffing in the Probation Service in each of the last five years.

      Answering member: Damian Hinds | Department: Ministry of Justice
      The total amount budgeted and spent by Ministry of Justice on Probation Services in England and Wales for the years requested is set out in a summary table below.

      Year £millions
      2021/22 787
      2020/21 536
      2019/20 479
      2018/19 454
      2017/18 414

      * In June 2021 over 7,000 staff were transferred from more than 50 legacy employers into the new unified Probation Service.

      "50 legacy employers" - where & when do they make this shit up?

      “In 2013… [the MoJ] dissolved 35 self-governing probation trusts and created 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs)... In February 2015, the CRCs were transferred to eight, mainly private sector, suppliers working under contracts"

      So was it 50? Or 21? Or 8? Or just the usual sleight of hand bollox.

      "the new unified Probation Service" - uh???

      "In July 2018, the Justice Secretary acknowledged that the quality of probation services being delivered was falling short of expectations and announced that the Ministry [would] terminate its CRC contracts 14 months early"

      More a case of inevitability of incompetence; the forces of gravity arising from the enormity of the failure, as opposed to than any meaningful act of "unification".

      https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0146/CDP-2023-0146.pdf

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